1893
April 4
(no 2)
Concord, Mass.
  There was a marked increase in the number
of Robins to-day but either they are scarce here this
spring or else the summer birds have not all arrived
as yet. There was very general singing when the sun
came out this afternoon but only general calling 
this evening although the air was wild & still.
  A little before sunset a flock of nine White-bellied 
Swallows passed over Great Meadow flying well together
and very steadily, as if migrating, in a N.E. direction.
Later I saw a single bird floating & circling 
& evidently feeding. 
  Song Sparrows were very numerous along the river
to-day. There we three or four in the belt of
bushes at Ball's Hill where before I have seen only
one or two at most. Singing was very general
and well sustained. Two birds which kept together
in some bushes appeared to be mated. The female (?)
[margin]kept taking[/margin] took short flights, the male following here
closely with wide-spread tail. The males were
continually chasing one another about. One drove
another across the river when the pursued turned 
sharply about and drove the pursuer back. The 
spreading of the tail during flight was a marked
feature of these gentle battles.
  Red-wings have increased in numbers since yesterday
A flock of fifteen or twenty males spent the day in
a flooded thicket near the E. end of Ball's Hill bursting
out in song every little while - the first medley singing I
have heard this year. I suspect that these birds were migrants.
[margin]Red-wing
Blackbirds[/margin]